In The Spirit of Sacrifice
by awilliamsbbc.98
Summary: Sometimes sacrifice is necessary for the continued well being and happiness of those dear to you; Peter and Susan understand this better than most. Gifts are given and returned, Peter just wants to sleep, and Susan discovers first hand why it is always a bad idea to incite a war with her younger brother. Featuring Linus and a sneaky Cat :-) Canon compliant-No pairings-Golden Age
1. An Unexpected Disturbance

**Don't let the summary fool you, this is properly classified as humour and is meant to be very light-hearted. This is set after my other story The City Ruinous but can be read as a stand alone piece (I do recommend reading it though-and possibly reviewing? :-) ). The only background information you really need is that the Four recently returned to Cair Paravel after a rather nasty encounter with a witch and a city of evil giants. A few unpleasant things transpired over the course of the story and left Edmund with some pretty nasty nightmares. Linus is an original character introduced in that story, but his personality is fairly self explanatory here.**

"Oi, shove over." It is scarcely ever pleasant to be awakened from a deep sleep by an elbow to the ribs and a distinctly grumpy voice ordering you to move. But, as Peter well knew, when the voice and elbow belong to your even grumpier appearing brother it is usually wise to do as you are told. Peter obligingly shifted over and let Edmund drop onto the mattress with a cross sigh.

"Trouble sleeping?" He blinked owlishly, still barely half awake, but growing steadily more aware as his worry increased. In the month since their return from Harfang Edmund had been prone to fits of depressed brooding, sleeplessness, and violently unpleasant nightmares. He was improving, albeit slowly, but Peter found his sudden presence in the middle of the night less than reassuring; Edmund usually only appeared in Peter's room after waking from a particularly violent bout of nightmares.

"Oh, clever, as if you don't know precisely why I'm not sleeping in my own room. Don't try to pretend you aren't entirely responsible for this!" Edmund sounded thoroughly put out rather than distressed.

 _This is not what I was expecting,_ Peter thought blearily-fighting to keep hold of at least some of his blankets as Edmund fought equally determinedly to pull them further towards him. Usually his younger brother was pale, shaking, and on the verge of tears when disrupting Peter's sleep, and while Peter was relieved this was not the case he was rather puzzled as well. Equally as unexpected was the loud snuffling sound emanating from the vicinity of the closed door. "I really have no idea what you are talking about." A very distinctive whining sound joined the snuffling and Peter wondered vaguely is he was still asleep and having a bizarre dream; it sounded like a pack of Dogs was trying to paw their way into the room. "What the blazes is that noise?"

"That," said Edmund crossly (managing to wrestle most of Peter's blankets away from him). "Would be Linus and Fox. I'm assuming you ordered them to keep me out of trouble; unfortunately their definition of doing so involves snoring so loudly my teeth ache and managing to knock me off my own bed. They've been following me all week, which isn't so bad, except that I was minding my own business and trying to sleep when they decided that 'guarding' meant sleeping on top of me. I know you put them up to this." His head disappeared, first under the mound of blankets and then under Peter's pillow. Peter blinked again, not sure if he wanted to laugh or curse, and settled for clamping his hands over his ears and attempting to fall back asleep.

 _Whoever_ is _responsible for this ridiculous behaviour will most decidedly pay for it. At a much more reasonable hour._ At least Edmund seemed to be sleeping peacefully. _And he ought to be, considering he stole most of my blankets._

Peter sighed, managed to tug one of the blankets free from his sleeping brother's grip, and glared blearily in the direction of the door. _Sacrifices must be made, I suppose._ But between Edmund's only slightly muffled snoring and the pathetic whining coming from the Dogs in the hallway it took many hours for Peter to find sleep again.

By the time he woke the next morning (Edmund was still stubbornly asleep and Peter valued his life enough not to attempt waking him), and stumbled into the hallway in search of breakfast he had entirely forgotten about the Dogs. Upon entering the hallway, he tripped rather spectacularly over the snoring lumps of fur stationed outside the door. His shin collided painfully with a low table and he narrowly escaped falling flat on his face as the aforementioned lumps of fur suddenly leapt to their feet, barking and wagging their tails.

The huge grey wolfhound nearly bowled him over again in excitement and the sheepdog- _Fox?_ -let out such a piercing bark of welcome that it set Peter's head aching. "King Peter! King Peter! Good morning! Did you sleep well?" Linus bounced on his paws, spun in a circle, and dropped back on his haunches, grinning. Peter suddenly found Edmund's behaviour of the previous night perfectly explicable. Dogs, he had learned recently, were terribly excitable, unflinchingly loyal, and unfailingly infuriating. _Aslan, give me patience!_ he implored silently, as he always did when confronted with some of the more ridiculous Creatures in his kingdom.

"Good cousins, what are you doing outside my door?" he asked, as politely as he could while rubbing his bruised shin.

"Waiting for King Edmund," offered Fox helpfully. "Is he avoiding us?" Both Dogs whined rather pathetically, only to cheer a moment later. "We're guarding him!"

 _Not particularly well,_ Peter reflected, remembering how deeply asleep the two Creatures had been prior to him stumbling over them. "And what precisely do you mean by guarding?"

Fox tilted her head to one side, puzzled. "Following him, of course."

"And protecting him," Linus added exuberantly. "You never know when someone might try to poison his food."

"Or steal his blankets!" Fox added, jabbing Linus in the shoulder with her nose.

"Who ordered you to?" _So that I can personally shout at them for Edmund stealing_ my _blankets._

"It's a secret," confided Linus in a stentorian whisper. "We mustn't tell! Queen Susan ordered us not to say a word about it."

 _Well then._ "Ermm…wonderful, carry on…guarding then." He half sprinted down the hallway, struggling not to laugh. _How is it that Dogs manage to be infuriating, well meaning, and amusing all at once?_

When Edmund joined them for breakfast half an hour later he did not seem amused, and was less so when Linus and Fox came lumbering after him into the room and nearly overturned the table before Edmund reluctantly put most of his own breakfast onto the floor for them. The Dogs eagerly accepted the food and for a few heartbeats there was peace. Regrettably Dogs eat incredibly fast and a moment later they were scampering about the room, barking and chasing invisible shadows. Peter spared a moment to be glad Lucy was away visiting Mr. Tumnus, if she had not been he was quite certain she would have joined the Dogs cavorting about the room rather than remained gracefully at the table. Susan would have been at her wit's end trying to make her remember her manners. _Speaking of Susan..._

Peter had not missed the slight, amused twitch of Susan's mouth as she watched Edmund groan and reach for the coffee pot again. _Well, dear sister, it seems Linus reported your part in this accurately._ He hadn't quite trusted Linus' accidental implication of Susan's responsibility until that very moment. Peter was all too happy to scrawl a single word onto a scrap of parchment and surreptitiously slip it across the table to his glowering brother. Edmund glanced crossly from his coffee to the parchment and his mood seemed to brighten considerably. He grinned conspiratorially at Peter before turning cheerfully to his older sister.

"I say, Susan, I've just thought of the perfect Christmas gift for you!" Susan blinked, obviously puzzled by Edmund's sudden change in mood, but somehow didn't find it worth questioning. Peter was certain she shared his relief that their prone to brooding brother spent the rest of the morning grinning and whistling a jaunty tune.

Had his shin not been so thoroughly bruised and his rest not so rudely disrupted the night before, Peter might have summoned up a modicum of sympathy for Susan. She would undoubtedly have cause to regret assigning the two Dogs to guard Edmund before the end of the day. As it was Peter found himself inclined feel that she entirely deserved whatever retribution was coming to her. Besides, had he been the one responsible for the Dogs' behaviour Peter felt certain whatever revenge Edmund was plotting would have been well worth bearing based solely upon the fact that, for the first time in months, his brother's eyes were filled with impish amusement rather than being haunted by his nightmares. Although, the devious grin Edmund was currently sporting did serve to make Peter rather nervous about the nature of his revenge-such looks usually heralded a rather spectacular disruption of Cair Paravel's peaceful atmosphere.

 _Sometimes sacrifices must be made,_ Peter thought again, though this time it was with a rather unreasonable amount of amusement. _Though this case is quite likely to prove more diverting than most others_.

 **A second part featuring Susan will be posted at some point. I'm really supposed to be putting my writing on hold until after finals in a week...and yet here I am. This plot bunny was rather persistent and I found myself wanting to write something that is nearly utter nonsense after the stress involved in The City Ruinous. Leave me a review if it isn't too much trouble!**

 **Cheers,**

 **A**


	2. An Unwelcome Gift

**Thank you all for the lovely reviews! I'm glad you found the first part amusing :-) This is my first attempt at writing anything that is even remotely humourous, so hopefully I am not doing too poorly.**

 **Standard disclaimer, blah blah blah...**

Susan was not fond of cats; she had always been more than a little afraid of them. Aslan, of course, was the notable exception to this, although she was never entirely sure that He even qualified as a Cat. Aslan was something different, something more, and so with this argument firmly in mind Susan had persisted in her fear of cats even since (perhaps especially since) coming to Narnia. It was something of a shock then, when she looked up from her knitting to find herself face to face with a Snow Leopard, who was nearly as tall as Lucy.

Susan was later rather ashamed to admit that she squeaked in a very undignified fashion and dropped her knitting needles. The ball of yarn tumbled off her lap and she could have sworn she saw the Leopard bat at it in a distracted manner. She collected her wits quickly enough and retrieved the knitting with as much dignity as she could muster. The Leopard stared at her impassively with icy grey eyes and flicked his tail, obviously waiting to be addressed.

"Good morrow, cousin." She winced when her voice was still a trifle squeaky, but really, how was she to expect anything else when faced with an unexpected feline? "Was there something you needed?"

"No." The Leopard settled back on his haunches and wrapped his tail around his paws. He kept staring unblinkingly at her face and Susan found herself growing increasingly nervous.

"Oh." _Maybe if I ignore him he will leave?_ She went back to her knitting and studiously avoided making eye contact; the Leopard remained stubbornly present.

She had been enjoying a peaceful afternoon of knitting before the hearth in the library. Peaceful afternoons are few and far between when you are not only older sister to two adventurous siblings but also queen over a land filled with a vast assortment of Creatures. With Lucy away and Peter and Edmund doubtless attempting to hack each other to bits under the watchful eyes of Orieus, Susan had gratefully availed herself of the chance to steal a few quiet hours. Now she was rather regretting not remaining in her chambers to answer her official correspondence.

The Leopard yawned, stretched, and lay down, curling into an almost perfectly circular coil of spotted fur. Despite his complete change in position he was still staring almost unblinkingly at Susan. _Perhaps he expects me to talk to him?_

"You are one of my brother, the High King's, guards, are you not?" She hoped desperately she had not mistaken him for someone else. She could only vaguely remember that Peter was sometimes accompanied by a Leopard with a similar pattern of markings and light coloured pelt.

"Indeed, your majesty." The Leopard yawned again, showing gleaming and wickedly sharp teeth. Susan suppressed a shudder. "I was, until some thirty minutes past."

"Oh," she said again, trying to keep the tremor from her voice. _Perhaps he is terribly cross with Peter for dismissing him._ The Leopard did not look terribly cross, but still. _Sweet Aslan, don't let him eat me!_ She gathered up her knitting quickly and stood as gracefully as she could, trying all the while to ignore the fact that she was shaking. "If you will pardon me, good cousin, I seem to have forgotten to send King Lune an invitation for Christmas."

The Leopard blinked in what she could only hope was acknowledgement and it took all of Susan's self-control to walk slowly and calmly from the room. Once in the hallway she fairly sprinted to the kitchens in search of a good cup of tea. So great was her agitation that she missed the silent, shadow-like shape that slipped out from the library a moment later and padded calmly after her.

Susan ignored the head cook's many protests and imploring requests to sit down and not trouble herself with well-practiced ease and donned an apron. The protests and requests were more a formality than anything else and all the servants knew that their young queen would much prefer to wait upon herself whenever the occasion presented itself.

The Leopard's arrival in the kitchens went largely unnoticed, due in part to his own stealth, but more due to the bustle of activity that always pervaded those rooms near midday. Susan herself was quite oblivious to his silent presence as she moved from making herself a cup of tea to sitting comfortably near the fire, where she began peeling and slicing a mountain of crisp fall apples for cook's famous pies.

Given her concentration on the task it was quite shocking and unexpected when a voice spoke, terribly close to her ear. "Your majesty?"

Susan started violently, scattering apple peelings in every direction, as she turned towards the source of the voice. The Leopard- _Isn't his name Asterius?_ -took a graceful step back, and delicately flicked a coil of apple peel off his nose.

"Apologies, my queen." Far from looking apologetic his eyes seemed to sparkle with ill-concealed mirth.

"Are you following me?" Susan asked squeakily, scrambling to collect the scattered peelings.

"Of course." He licked his paw, claws flashing out for a brief second.

"Why?" Susan looked around desperately for aid, but no one else seemed to have noticed the ferocious Cat.

"It is my duty." He yawned again, looking bored and vaguely disdainful. "King Edmund suggested I might be better suited to guarding you rather than the High King and the High King agreed with him."

 _At least he isn't cross and planning to murder me,_ Susan thought, trying to be reasonable. _But really Edmund, at least I gave you Dogs as guards. This is taking things a bit far!_

"I thank you for your efforts, Asterius" Susan said graciously-or as graciously as was possible while she was still seated on the floor collecting apple peelings with a Snow Leopard looming over her. "But I do not require a guard at present. I will be perfectly safe as long as I remain within Cair Paravel."

Asterius made no move to depart although Susan was certain her dismissal had been clear enough. "Begging your pardon, my queen, but your royal brothers gave me most specific instructions."

"And where are my royal brothers?" _You are both going to regret this!_

Asterius flicked the tip of his tail as if the question annoyed him. "Last I saw they were with the General. But I would not suggest joining them," he added in a voice that could only be described as prim. "It is frightfully muddy." He licked his paw again and wiped it across his muzzle, which was still streaked lightly with mud, as if to prove his point.

Susan was beyond caring; mud or no she was going to confront the two ruffians who thought assigning her a Cat as a guard was a good joke. She gathered up the last of the apple peelings, handed the bowl of sliced apples to the befuddled cook, pulled off her apron and stormed out of the kitchen in a swirl of silk skirts. Asterius followed, lips twitching in amusement.

As it turned out she did not need to go all the way to the muddy training grounds to locate the ruffians in question. Two thoroughly disreputable, mud covered figures-who might have at one time resembled her brothers-hailed her cheerfully as she stepped cautiously into the damp courtyard.

"What on earth have the two of you been doing?" Susan asked in horror as she nimbly sidestepped Edmund's attempt to throw mud at her. At least, she assumed it was Edmund; beyond the height and difference in build her brothers were so thoroughly caked in mud that it was otherwise impossible to identify them.

"Edmund thought it would be a merry joke to trip me," Peter declared jovially, his voice confirming his identity.

"I did not! You tripped over your own feet, lummox." Susan thought Edmund might be smiling, but it was rather difficult to tell.

This declaration seemed to infuriate Peter-though Susan could have sworn he was laughing-and he launched himself at his younger brother with the obvious intention of tackling him to the ground. Edmund dodged nimbly and Peter narrowly avoided tripping over his own feet, again, if Edmund was to be believed.

Susan threw up her hands in exasperation as the two kings of Narnia began brawling in earnest. Had they not both been laughing so heartily the sight might have given some credence to the Calormene rumours that each was plotting the other's imminent murder.

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Susan barely avoided being splattered with mud as they both went down in a tangle of limbs and landed ungracefully in a large puddle. "I need to discuss something seriously with both of you!"

That mostly put a stop to the tussle, though Susan didn't miss the way Edmund's foot darted out in another attempt to trip Peter as the latter scrambled to his feet. She glanced desperately back at Asterius, hoping he was out of earshot. "I do not require a constant guard! Unlike you, dear brothers, I have no habit of getting into ridiculous situations in the supposed safety of our own home."

Edmund sighed dramatically and nodded at Asterius, clearly dismissing him for the present. The Leopard sighed disdainfully, shaking his head at his mud-covered sovereigns and retreated gracefully into the palace. Susan breathed an audibly sigh of relief and let her shoulders relax.

"Really Edmund, is it entirely necessary to assign a _Cat_ to be my guard?"

Edmund gave her his best innocent look, though the effect was rather spoiled by all the mud, and sighed dramatically. "Asterius? I don't see what's wrong with him. Besides, not every sister can say she was assigned a dedicated personal guard as an early Christmas present."

"And thank Aslan for that," Susan muttered, half to herself. Peter snorted in amusement, then coughed quickly to hide it as Susan turned a fierce glare on him.

"You would see what is wrong if he had startled you twice in the space of half an hour. Besides, I'm really not fond of cats, Talking or otherwise. At least you are fond of Dogs."

"Oh, yes, but fond does not extend to allowing them to bark incessantly and knock me out of bed. Although, you undoubtedly find it very amusing." He might have been scowling, but Susan couldn't help feeling that he was rather more amused than annoyed. It was good to see him happy again, even if it was at her own expense. Still, he'd had his fun and she wasn't about to tolerate being followed everywhere by a Cat of all Creatures.

"He was your guard Peter," Susan offered desperately, but Peter shook his head, still obviously struggling to hide his mirth.

"No, I am quite willing to be relieved of his services. The excessively sneaky shadow I already have is effective enough at frightening me half to death." No one who had met Edmund could have any doubts about who Peter was referring to. The sneaky shadow in question looked torn between being insulted and being pleased and Susan sighed, unwilling to let her brothers get distracted again.

"Look here Ed, I'll call off the Dogs, just please tell Asterius to stop following me! Or at least stop doing it so quietly," she amended without thinking and instantly regretted it. _Oh, wonderful!_ "Or I'll simply order him to stop."

Edmund sighed dramatically again, and Susan resisted the sudden impulse to throw something at his head. "You can't do that, Su. You know how Cats are; he'll sulk unbearably for weeks. Besides, Christmas gifts are not something you can return."

"What about a trade?" she asked desperately, wondering if she was going to regret the suggestion immediately. "If you take Asterius back as your guard I will take the Dogs." _I am going to regret this, I know it._

Edmund grinned and offered her his hand, which she promptly refused due to its current muddy state. "We have an accord, dear sister."

"Speaking of the Dogs, where are they?" Susan was surprised to find that Edmund's two shadows were mysteriously absent.

It was Peter who answered with a hearty laugh. "They are currently being scolded by Orieus. It seems one of them managed to splash our good General with a great deal of mud, an occurrence which he took great exception to. Look, here they come now."

Susan looked and was horrified to see two dripping and mud plastered figures racing towards her, barking madly. To their credit they did try to stop, but the mud made their paws slippery and the damp stones of the courtyard made what happened next quite unavoidable. Susan barely had time to regret discarding her apron before the two bundles of exuberant fur crashed into her with surprised yelps.

Peter and Edmund made good on their escape, their footsteps hastened by the shriek that followed them. "PETER! EDMUND! GET BACK HERE!" For one who was called "the Gentle", Susan was surprisingly adept at shouting.

* * *

Later that night Peter was unsurprised when his door creaked open again, this time to admit Susan. Rather than immediately shoving him half off the bed and stealing his blankets as Edmund had, she perched delicately at the foot of his bed with a sigh.

"Trouble sleeping?" he asked, grinning sleepily.

"You could say that," she said irritably. "Linus and Fox are snoring louder than you and Edmund combined."

"I do not snore," Peter offered helpfully and tossed a blanket at her. "Get some sleep."

"He was happier today," Susan remarked quietly when Peter had nearly fallen asleep again.

To his credit Peter stifled the groan at being kept awake again and settled for nodding in agreement. "That was your plan all along, wasn't it?"

Susan laughed quietly. "You know me too well. It took far longer than I expected for him to find out and retaliate though, and I did not expect it to be with a Cat. Still, it's worth it if he stops brooding, even for a day."

"Sacrifices must be made, eh?" He stifled a yawn.

"Indeed, dear brother." The smile was evident in her voice. "Goodnight Peter."

"Night Su." A moment later they were both so deeply asleep that neither heard the faint scratching at the door.

 **That was unexpectedly long. Whew! Hope you all enjoyed, let me know with a review! Also, please vote on the poll located on my profile page :-)**

 **Cheers,**

 **A**


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